Mitten



May 1942- E. c. LINbFELT 2,283,551

MI-TTEN Filed March 25, 19'40 ATTORNEY 5.

Patented May 19, 1942 UNHTE STATES PATENT OFFICE;

1 Claim.

construction for a mitten or'glove', whereby a degree of flexibilityisobtained which improves the fit of the mitten or glove and makes forgreater comfort on the part of the wearer.

An object ofthis invention is to provide means whereby the principal.parts of the mitten; for example, may be made of certain fabrics whichhave very slight stretch and which therefore would be ordinarilyconsidered. unsuitable for glove or mitten-construction because they donot readily adaptthemselves' to the various: hand shapes characteristic.of different wearers. Satin is a material of: this kind, and is veryattractive in appearance but diflicult to make into a mitten withsatisfactory fit characteristics because it does not yield sufficientlyto conform to'the contour of the hand. There are many other'materials ofvery attractive texture and appearance which have the same disadvantagesas glove or mitten materials.

A further object is to provide a mitten con' struction with elements ofyieldable material so placed as to relieve strains on the seams whichoccur when the hand is closed, or when the material of the mitten isotherwise stressed.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of mydevice whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinaftermore fully set forth, pointed out in my claim and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mitten embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view corresponding to Figure 2, but showing amodified form of my invention; and

Figure 4 is a similar view, showing a second modified form of myinvention.

In the accompanying drawing I have used the reference numeral In toindicate generally a mitten formed with an outer covering l2, which maybe of any suitable material. As above indicated, however, the advantagesof my invention are most fully realized when the material employed forthis covering is one which does not yield or stretch freely when placedunder tension.

The edges of the covering [2 are joined by a seam M, which closes theend of the mitten, and

in: constructions which have heretofore been: common, usually extendsdown the side.

If desired, an elastic stitching may be provided acrossrthewristportion, as indicatedat l6,-to cause a gathering; which will make,for close" fit aboutthe'wrist' when the'mitten isworn. A suite ableliningrl 8 is'providediin the wellek'nown" manner.

The significant feature of my invention consists the provision of a goreorinsert 20', ex-- tending longitudinally. of. the mitten from the wristportion over a substantial part'oftherlength ofthe mitten. The length ofthis'insert isipreferably suflicient, as indicated :inFigurel of'thedrawing, to include the portionof the mitten which comes across theknuckles of the third joint when the hand isin closedorclenchedposition;In this position-the Width of the hand increases somewhat, and a closefitting glove or mitten may cause the wearer considerable inconvenienceor discomfort if it is made of materials which do not have a yieldingcharacter.

It will also be obvious that considerable strain is placed upon theseams of the mitten under such circumstances, both upon the material ofthe glove itself at the juncture, and upon the thread with which theseam is sewed, In a mitten which is'inseam sewn, as shown in thedrawing, a split seam cannot be conveniently or neatly repaired withoutthe practical necessity of taking the mitten apart, and consequently aconstruction which will avoid this misfortune and annoyance is highlydesirable.

I achieve the desired result in my construction by making the insert 20of lastex material of the" variety now commonly known, which stretchesfreely. In the application indicated, a material with so-called one-waystretch is preferable, in-. asmuch as the purpose of the insert is topermit an increase in the diameter of the mitten. The stretchablematerial is therefore inserted in such a manner that the stretch cantake place in a direction transverse to the longitudinal dimension ofthe insert. does not stretch freely in its longitudinal direction, itresists forces or stresses which would tend to cause the mitten to loseits shape by skewing the edges of covering l2 which are sewed to theinsert. I have found that for this reason the one-way stretch materialis much superior.

A common'construction of a mitten such as shown in Figure 1 is with theseam down the side opposite the thumb. The elastic insert canconveniently be incorporated in this scam, as

Where the insert material an insert along both sides of the mitten, asindicated by the typical section of such a construction shown in Figure3.

For ornamental reasons, the insert may be made of a material having adifferent color or surface appearance from the material used for thebalance of the mitten, and in such a case it may be desirable to providethe gore down the back or front, as suggested in Figure 4. A pluralityof strips may be formed iii this way, if desired. Obviously theadvantageous result obtained thereby is the same as in the otherconstructions indicated.

In all of the constructions shown, in sectional view, it would bepreferable to extend the elastic insert from the wrist portion past thepoint or line occupied by the knuckles of the third joint of the wearershand, as in Figure 1f In a case where suflicient wrist elasticity isprovided by the stitching IS, the presence of additional stretchabilityis most important along the knuckle line described, and it would bepossible to apply my invention satisfactorily by extending the insert ina direction longitudinally of the mitten, but only in the centralportion of the mitten. However, for reasons of manufacturing economy,the form of Figure 1, where the elastic insert extends clear to thewrist, is preferable. In this form, also, the stretch of the insert isadded to that of the stitching I6, which makes for better wrist fit andcomfort.

It will be obvious that although I have shown and described my inventionas applied to a mitten, it is equally applicable to a glove or otherhand covering, and it is my intention to cover by my claim the use of myinvention in any such hand covering wherein, when non-stretchablematerials are principally used, it is a problem to make the coveringconform comfortably and satisfactorily to the changes in size and shapeof the wearers hand.

A mitten or glove can be made in the manner above described, using satinor similar material that is tight, with no appreciable stretch capacity,to give a neat, comfortable fitting article, which will not strain orpull out at the seams, and which will not cramp the wearers hand whenthe hand is closed or clenched.

Some changes may be made in the formation and arrangement of the partsof my glove construction without departing from the real spirit andpurpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claim anymodified forms of structure or use of equivalents which may bereasonablyincluded in their scope,

,I claim as my invention:

In a mitten, a tubular casing closed at one end, said casing having aback and front of relatively non-stretchable material, an elasticgathering around the open end of said casing, and a strip of materialforming a connection between said back and said front of said casing,said strip being relatively stretchable in a direction circumferentiallyof said casing, and relatively nonstretchable in a directionlongitudinally of said casing, said strip extending longitudinally ofsaid casing from the open end thereof to a point past the part of saidcasing occupied by the knuckles of the third joint of the wearers hand.

EDWARD C. LINDFELT.

